Yes, the day many have been waiting for in eager anticipation is finally here: Google has officially announced in a blog post that Hangouts version 4.0 goes live in the company’s Play Store today. Suffice it to say, then, that Hangouts 4 hype has been building up tremendous pressure since, and now Google is finally delivering.
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Google today updated Google Hangouts for Android with a revamped design, faster performance, and new messaging features. With a new Compose button that makes it easier to start a new group or conversation. Our streamlined contacts list helps you find the right person quickly.
The attachments UI is also simplified, with support for attaching multiple photos simultaneously among other improvements.
Hangouts is faster.
Elsewhere, there’s outbound Caller ID – so you won’t be shown as “Unknown” when you use Hangouts Dialer to make a call to someone – along with the re-introduction of custom status messages. Whether you’re sending a quick message or video chatting with family, you don’t want hold-ups.
Last but not least, Google is promising less battery consumption.
Other improvements include support for group MMS messages using Google Voice and support for composing messages through an Android Wear smartwatch by saying “OK Google, send a Hangouts message”. And if you’re rocking an Android Wear device on your wrist, the ability to respond to Hangouts messages using your voice means that won’t need to pull your phone out of your pocket as frequently as in the past. This is especially useful for those that are using Project Fi and/or Google Voice.
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And if you’re not around but want friends to know what’s on your mind? Now we don’t have our hands on the APK just yet, but as soon as we get one, we’ll be sure to update this post so that everyone can update, without having to wait for the staged rollout to finish up and get to them.
